Single-Issue Reviews, August 2010, Part Two

For this installment of Single-Issue Reviews, I'll be looking at the most-recent issues of a pair of Bat-family books and a pair of Jonathan Hickman books. Read on to see what I thought.

Detective Comics #867

• Written by David Hine
• Art by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens
• Cover by Peter Nguyen

• A gang of imitation Jokers causes escalating mayhem in Gotham, and if everyone would just stop wimping out all the time, this wouldn't be a problem, damn it. At least, that seems to be the message.
• If you can't tell from my summary, this issue if just a tad heavy-handed. Every time someone tries to take reasonable caution, the “Jokerz” pick that precise moment to step it up five notches. Also, the way to calm rioters is to charge at them head-long and not even bother to use the rubber bullets which were specifically mentioned while said rioters are still at a distance. Which, of course, means that by not being crazy and over-the-top first, the reasonable people are completely to blame for what happens. This argument makes no sense.
• After last issue's very good Joker story, it's disheartening that we now have another Joker-ish story, especially as this one, so far, pales in comparison. I feel like they didn't really have any ideas, so they went with the old stand-by. Okay, I take that back a little. The premise isn't horrible (Joker-esque citizenry v Batman-esque citizenry), but it's not done well here at all.
• Is this supposed to be Dick under the cowl? There is one splash that feels like it's Dick, and the rest of the issue is just nondescript Batman. Also, is there any actual reason the Question is thrown in? Why not someone else? Or nobody else? Don't get me wrong, I love the Question, but she could have just as easily been Commissioner Gordon or some other random person.
• I really hope we don't get “Battle for the Cowl, Citizens' Edition” with the remainder of the arc. Gun-toting Batman is not my idea of a good time.
• The art is really on-again-off-again. Some pages look fine, but in several places the faces look really awkward. Even the cover is weak, and Peter Nguyen has been doing some nice work lately. It's not bad art (except that Batman's nose is too beak-like and looks silly as a result), but it has absolutely nothing to do with the issue and is pretty bland overall.
• At this point, I'm wondering if I really want to stick through a four-issue arc here. The story is weak and there's very little characterization. I hate to break my run, but I'm feeling like there are other, better ways to get my Batman fix than this.

Fantastic Four #581

• Written by Jonathan Hickman
• Art by Neil Edwards
• Cover by Alan Davis

• We find out more about the mission of Franklin's future-self, Valeria's future-self pops in on Sue, and time-traveling Nathaniel Richards visits his son Reed in his college days.
• I've never read anything where Franklin had his powers, so I really liked when his future-self came back in time to restore them, and I like seeing him again here. I've heard many people liked him powerless better, but it feels like another piece of the intricate puzzle that Jonathan Hickman is piecing together. It really seems like Hickman is putting everything in for a purpose: even things that seem like throwaways or events that seem like they were just put in to advance another plot get brought up again. I love this kind of storytelling.
• It's fun to see Nathaniel Richards' part in Hickman's S.H.I.E.L.D. book brought in here. I would've been disappointed if it didn't come up, considering that he's writing both books and chose to include the character in S.H.I.E.L.D. It's also good to see his part in Hickman's opening arc brought in, as well. Again, Hickman doesn't let anything fall aside: everything is important because everything comes into play later on.
• I'm a little confused: did Nathaniel Richards mean for Reed to come along, or did he just plan on seeing him one last time? It seems odd that he'd place him in danger, especially since it seems that he was prepared to die.
• This issue sets up a lot and explains a lot but is pretty thin on action. We get several pages of everyone suiting up but revealing little-to-nothing that we don't already know about the characters. The next issue should be big on action, but this one suffers a bit for that.
• The art is decent. Nothing horrible (though I don't care much for some of the faces) and nothing spectacular. Well, almost nothing. I really liked how the scene from S.H.I.E.L.D. looked, though it seems like that's just how it was in that book, so maybe I can't credit the artists here for that so much.
• I think this will prove to be a another solid issue from Hickman. That assessment may go up or down based on the next issue, as much of this issue is setup for the conclusion of this mini-arc. Still, there's much to think over here, and from what I've seen from Hickman so far, it won't be for naught.

Red Robin #15

• Written by Fabian Nicieza
• Art and Cover by Marcus To and Ray McCarthy

• With Vicki Vale on the verge of figuring out his identity, Tim Drake sets up an intricate ruse to steer her away from him for good.
• I love Tim Drake because I love the whole “mastermind” thing where all of these pieces fall into place at the end. I love him even more for his extreme dedication to the ruse — a year is a long time to fake such a visible injury in public, especially for such a public figure in Gotham.
• It's also interesting to note how, again, Tim is a very cold character. He jumps right into his plan without any thought of how it would affect people who care about him. I mean, Tam Fox — who is totally into Tim — is standing right next to “him” as “he” is shot! What is she going through? Has Tim thought about what that would do to her?
• Damian has been used so well in this series. He's only here for a couple of panels, but they are a couple of the best and funniest panels in the entire issue.
• One storytelling issue: On the opening page, Tim is confronting his father's killer and then we flash back for the rest of the story, but we never get back to this opening sequence. I hope it's addressed early in the next issue. It's not a huge deal, as it does (hopefully) serve as a teaser, but it was a little off-putting. You almost forget it was there by the end of the issue.
• On the art side of things, I hope To and McCarthy always draw this comic. I love the style — it just seems perfect for the book. This is my favorite art for these characters.
• In the end, this is another awesome issue of Red Robin. This book has been great from the beginning and has even stayed great through a writer change. I'm always looking forward to my copy of this title, and this issue delivers once again.

S.H.I.E.L.D. #3

• Written by Jonathan Hickman
• Pencils and Inks by Dustin Weaver
• Colors by Christina Strain
• Cover by Gerald Parel

• Isaac Newton gives us a history lesson, and we find out much about him in the process.
• Before this series started, I thought it would have more space dedicated to historic figures and their battles to defend Earth. Issue #1 seemed to tease at this a little, too, but now I think that's all going to be an illustrative backdrop for the main story involving Leopold. This isn't really a bad thing; I just need to realign my expectations for this book. Of course, this approach may actually be better in the long run. Rather than just being a book of cool “What If?” issues, the revamped histories are being used to further the main story — this is probably more sustainable over the course of a series.
• I know that some people may fault Hickman for not advancing the story at all in this issue, but I'm a sucker for the “same events, different perspective” approach, and I think it's done really well here. You don't realize at first that that's what is happening here, but then you see Newton has been talking to Nostradamus the whole time, and it clicks into place. This is actually the third perspective we've seen of the same events, as last issue included two by itself, but I don't find that to be a problem; rather, I think it adds to the sense of epic-ness. Of course, if the next issue does not move forward from here (as we've now seen this from all the major players' perspectives), this will move into the problem territory very quickly.
• I feel like Hickman is building a mythology here with the Five-Fold Understanding. I hope Newton's explanation of how he obtained it isn't the end of Hickman's explanation of it. He rushes through all the parts and leaves me wanting to find out more about it.
• Newton's rise to power includes some very creepy and disturbing events. It's interesting to see the lengths he was willing to go to gain knowledge and how all of that helped make him the cold, power-hungry man he is now. (Or was he always that way?) His reversal of Galileo's statement (Some men call me master … You will call me brother.) is a trope that works well here to highlight his regime's opposing approach.
• The art is again superb. The bimonthly shipping schedule is due to the time needed for the art, and it's well worth it. Every scene has a great deal of detail, though little of it matches the extreme majesty of the first issue. This is largely due to there being much less of the grand-scale shots of which the first issue had so much. We again get shifts in the art for different eras, and it helps to set off the glimpses of older times, especially the Baghdad scene.
• My only issue with the art is that some of the characters are hard to distinguish. Most notably, I had trouble telling Galileo and Nostradamus apart on a couple of pages.
• I can't mention the art without also mentioning the cover. It, like the covers for the previous two issues, is beautiful. It's one of the prettiest covers I've seen, and it doesn't hurt that it showcases an awesome shot of Galactus.
• Hickman has stated that this book won't have arcs, per se, but this issue feels like the end of the opening arc for this book. The major players (it seems) have been introduced, the basics of the mythology have been told, and Leopold and da Vinci are about to have some sort of forced confrontation with Newton. It seems like we'll be getting a lot more of the main story next issue, and I'm interested to see how it plays out. There's a lot we still don't know, and I hope we get some answers soon. Either way, this has still been one of my favorite books. There's a lot to digest, and I like having to think over some of my comics.